The Quiet Ones
by AudaciousAdventures
Summary: Jack is aware of the growing tension between Mineral Town and Forget-Me-Not-Valley, with no idea how to stop it. While he sees the world in black and white, he meets Nami, who will show him how to think with all the colors of truth and freedom.
1. Chapter 1

Looking at her, you'd see a fiery rebellious, lost girl with bright red hair cut short like a boy's. On the particular day that everything changed between us, she was wearing a blue plaid shirt with the sleeves cut off over an orange tank, white shorts, and blue converse. Her burlap sack was slung over her shoulder as usual, and her hair had been growing a little. Nami walked into class and took a seat in the back of the class as usual.

"Hey," she says to Gustafa, a hippie-dippie guy who happened to be one of her close friends. "Have I missed anything?"

Gustafa sighs. "Not much at all. It's a shame the wind hasn't carried our teacher over already."

"Galen probably has a lot more to do other than teach a stupid history class. I don't know why they asked him to do this," Nami says, crossing her arms.

"I think they just wanted to keep him busy after…well…," Gustafa says.

Nami raises an eyebrow. "Say it out loud Gustafa, honour her with the recognition of her life and death."

In that moment, I turned around and caught her eye. She looks at me sideways, as if searching for some amount of weakness in me. It was true that Nina and Galen had been my father's friends, and had welcomed me into the village with open arms. Yet, it was also true that since they'd departed, Galen had wanted nothing to do with me.

As if reading my thoughts, name cleared her throat and says, "Don't sweat grumpy Galen. He probably just sees her light in you. She loved you, y'know? She really did love you."

Gustafa turns around, perplexed, and waves at me. I wave back awkwardly and nod in Nami's direction.

"Jack!" I hear someone call me. I raise an eyebrow to see Rock, the platinum blond boy who lived in the same Inn as Nami, bounding towards me. "You might want to get out there, it looks like the Mineral town boys are back."

I roll my eyes, but get up and take off my ranching gloves.

"Remember," Gustafa warns, getting up, "be a pacifist!"

I smirk at him. "Don't worry, Gustafa, I've got the persuasion of an infomercial."

I rush out of the class and see Cliff and Gray from Mineral town rallied up against Skye and Marlin from Forget-Me-Not-Valley.

"Get outta here Jack," Marlin says, spitting at the ground. "You're not stopping us this time."

"I don't know why you're _so_ excited to get a beating. Pretty boy is a big wimp who goes around stealing things, and you, Marlin, are a completely useless fighter anyway." Cliff says, smiling smugly. Gray pulls his hat father down over his face.

"You want to test that theory?" Marlin says, striding up to Cliff who does not back down.

Skye, the silver-haired thief dubbed 'Phantom Skye' had been discovered when he fell for my sister Jill. He wasn't that bad of a guy, and he'd stopped stealing once they started going out. Marlin was as stubborn as ever, even when Celia was around to try and do what she could to stop him from getting into trouble. Cliff was always looking for a way to prove that he was worth something, and I had no idea why Gray was here. If his grandfather found out he'd be in trouble, and he was supposed to be working at the Blacksmith's shop.

"Guys, there's no reason for you to fight. There's no girl, no glory, no victory, or anything hanging in the midst that would provoke you. All of you like to talk big, but no one here really wants to see either one of you hurt. So why don't we all just get to class?" I say, hands up, walking between the two.

My name's Jack Suzumiya. Eleventh grade was a big pain, especially when I had to run a farm all by myself right after classes. Well, I wasn't _completely _alone. Takakura was there, providing guidance and dropping off my shipments. Our small village helped out when they could. Rock, Lumina, Nami, Gustafa, Marlin, Celia, Skye, Jill and I were all from Forget-Me-Not Valley. We'd grown up with each other. We stuck up for each other.

But lately, our little gang had started needing way more help than usual. It was true that life was getting harder day by day for both Forget-Me-Not and Mineral Town, but if we were both going to survive the hard times, we'd need to bond together. I just didn't know how to get through to them.


	2. Chapter 2

Eventually the fight breaks up, and both parties return to class unscathed. I sigh and fall into my chair while Gustafa checks me over for battle scars.

"They're not going to stop you know," Nami says, staring straight ahead as she leaned in her chair with her arms crossed.

The bell rings, sending waves of students rushing in.

"They don't know how to deal with their problems, and so they'll attack what's different from them first. Once they're done with that, they'll start attacking each other. It's all one big supernova waiting to happen. It's inevitable, and it's a waste of energy to go out there every day and break up their stupid fights. Maybe if someone got a black eye or a broken arm, they'd realize just how stupid they're being," Nami explains, still not looking at me.

"But-," Gustafa interrupts, "violence is never the answer."

Nami gruffly gets up and mumbles something along the lines of, "Tell that to my dad," before grabbing her burlap sack and getting ready to leave.

Just then, an old woman with a tight bun, pencil skirt, wired glasses and pink blouse walks into the room. She oozes the look of modern, and wrinkles her nose when she looks at us. For the most part, our class was filled with kids like me; ranchers. Some had parents, some didn't. Still, we didn't pay much to clothing during school hours. It just wasn't a main concern, what with the heavy loads of work we had to do.

The woman sets down a briefcase at her desk and opens it up. She organizes herself before staring straight at Nami.

"What on _Earth_ do you think you're doing?" she demands, her voice sharp and unwielding to any sort of emotion.

Nami furrows her brow. "According to the law, if the teacher is more than 15 minutes late, we're legally allowed to leave."

"Well then, I do believe that I took my 15 minutes to make myself look proper, something I can't say the same for you." The woman was definitely defensive, and crazily snooty.

Nami rolls her eyes. "Look Miss, I don't know what right you think you have to talk to me that way but I can assure you that no one in this class cares about how cheap your makeup is."

"Of course you don't," she says, narrowing her eyes. "You're kind wouldn't even know what makeup _is_."

"Excuse me?" a girl's voice calls from the back. "Who do you think you are? You can't talk to her like that! And you can't address us like that either!"

"Oh honey," the teacher says, smiling evilly. "I can do whatever I want."


	3. Chapter 3

It was from this day forth that the eleventh grade kids of our wondrous school decided that we'd put aside our differences for the united front of getting Miss Snotnose fired. No one was happy with her teaching style, and if there was one thing that two towns could agree upon, it'd be a conflict.

I sigh and run a hand through my hair. The sun was blazing hot, and the amount of work I still had to do on the ranch was giving me a headache. Then, out of nowhere, a burlap sack was hitting me in the head, and I had two forces of headache acting upon me.

"Jerk!" Nami yells. She runs over, her pale skin flushed from over-exertion no doubt. "Sorry about that. Rock's an idiot, and he's taking our horse to go gallivanting off with his friends. Though I don't know why I'm telling _you_ about this, since you were probably invited."

I chuckle and hand her the bag. "Yea, I was invited. But I'm not going; I've got a lot of stuff to do back at the ranch. If you want, you could saddle up on my horse. It's not like we live far away from each other."

Nami shrugs and we walk over to the stables. We both mount the horse, and Nami wraps her slender arms around me as we ride back to the valley.

"Do you think our valley is beautiful?" she asks suddenly.

I take us over the bridge, heading towards a familiar path. Right about here there was a magnificent waterfall, and Flora and Carter were excavating mines.

"I do," I say, laughing to myself, "but not because of the nature. In terms of nature, we've got one waterfall and some pretty trees. It's the people that make our valley beautiful. We might bicker, but really we all do love each other, and we'd do anything for each other. That's why we've lasted this long. I think that's beautiful."

Nami nods. "I think that's beautiful too."

For a little while, we ride in silence. The silence isn't awkward or weighted with anything though, it's calm and serene.

"Oh," Nami says, "is there any chance we could pop by Vesta's farm? I told Ruby I'd get her some ingredients for her dishes tonight. It's a cook-out or something, for old-folks only."

"Ah yes, the cook-out," I respond. "I guess it'll be me and Toby then."

"Who's Toby?"

"My dog," I say, "Takakura always goes to the cookout, and my cows will be long sleeping by the time he gets back."

"Do you usually spend all of your time alone?"

I bite my cheek but keep talking, "I guess so. I mean, Takakura is pretty old, and he was more my father's friend than mine. He helps out a lot during the day so that I can go to school, and hangs around at the bar during the night, or just in his own home. I know I can go to him if I need anything, but I wouldn't say we're friends. And I can't very well have a full on conversation with chickens and cows. I suppose I do spend a lot of time on my own."

Nami looks at me sideways again, as if debating whether or not to say anything. Finally she says, "You're too stupid to risk being alone all the time. I'll have to help out."

I'm surprised. Before I can come up with a witty retort, we're at Vesta's farm.

Celia and Marlin are already inside, having left early from school to cover their hours at the farm.

"Hey," I say to Marlin, who tosses me a jug of milk. We clink glasses and drink, then sit on the fence while Nami goes to buy her ingredients from Celia.

"We've got to do something about this teacher. She's driving everyone nuts," Marlin says, laughing.

"I know, but what can we really do? She's a power-hungry important figure in school, and we _are_ farmer kids. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with it, but for some reason, I don't think getting her fired is really going to do anything. We'll still be on edge for the next person who tries to throw a dig at us, and we'll forever be known as the kids who couldn't accept who they are."

"Then what do you propose we do, Einstein? We can't wait around for her to leave, or for Galen to come back. He's still crushed from losing Nina and I don't blame him for not wanting to walk into a school where everyone hates each other."

"All we have to do is freeze her out. Whatever comments she makes, or jokes she cracks, just ignore them and focus on work. We'll be star students, and she won't have an audience. As for Galen, I'm not too sure."

"Your plan for our devil-teacher seems good in theory, but with guys like Cliff around, it's not going to take very much to push them off the edge."

I sigh. Life on the farm was getting way too complicated.

Nami exits with a fuller looking burlap sack. Celia waves to me. I take an apple out of my Rucksack and toss one to her. She smiles and bites into it. I wave goodbye, and Nami and I ride our way into the heart of the valley.

The Inn is a little while away from Vesta's shop. Ruby was Rock's mother, and Nami freeloaded off of them. She had wanted to pay, but Ruby and Tim (Rock's father) had insisted she just work in the kitchen with Ruby some nights and stay there for free. Rock and Nami had clashing personalities, which always kept things light and airy in the Inn. People would come in all the time, some to sleep, some to eat, and some just to socialize. My visits were mainly to bring Rock back home after he'd fainted or got into a fight. Ruby and Tim always felt indebted to me for some reason. I wondered if Nami felt that way for them.

"Hey Ruby!" Nami says. "I brought the ingredients! Rock went out with some guys from school, but he'll be back before the cookout I think."

Ruby walks out, tan skin and short black hair, with a perpetual smile on her face. "That's great Nami, thanks a lot! And it's great to see you Jack! You're looking healthy as ever."

"Those Tempura dishes you made me have got me feeling better than ever," I say, smiling.

"You should try my Gratin," Ruby says, winking at Nami.

"It's the best," Nami says, smirking.

Confused, I slowly ask, "What's Gratin?"

Nami drops her sack on the ground and stares at me, wide-eyed and disbelieving. She turns to Ruby. "To the kitchen, Ruby, we need to go to the kitchen."

We enter the kitchen, and Nami takes down some onions, butter, and a jug of milk, three rice balls, and flour. "Get out," she directs. "You'll taste the beauty in a few minutes."

I laugh and exit the kitchen, pausing to examine a piece of artwork in the lobby. There were swirls of blue and green, with a brown straight line that seemed to be slowly spun around. I smell interesting smells from the kitchen, but keep examining the painting. For some reason, I imagined a much deeper meaning to the painting. As if the brown was someone, or something, being grounded, but slowly being enveloped by the wind and sky. It wasn't an angry painting, leading me to believe that a stubborn stone was changing, evolving, and growing to swirl and be free. It was artistic, and…brilliant. In the corner of the painting were four letters that made me furrow my brow: Nami.


	4. Chapter 4

Warm smells waft past me, making me blink my eyes open. I hadn't noticed that I'd sunk into the plush couch in the lobby and drifted off. I rub my eyes and run a hand through my hands. I'd another dream. In this one I was in the ocean, searching my dad, calling out in the blue waves. Wave after wave would try and push me under, but somehow I stayed up long enough to see a glimmer of my father's rucksack. It was swallowed up by the vicious ocean, which turned stormy and pushed me under until I drowned.

I take a deep breath and try and clear my mind. Nami pops her head out of the kitchen with a smirk on her face. She takes out a steaming pan. Inside of it there was some sort of creamy dish topped with grated cheese and breadcrumbs. She passed me a fork and looked at me expectantly. I plunge the fork into the steaming dish and blow on a morsel before putting the fork into my mouth.

It was like the tasty crust that's left in a pan after you bake, but magnified to a great extent. I loved it. Nami crosses her arms and flashes a satisfying grin. She glances at the clock and snaps out of her little dream.

"If you want to feed your cows in time, you'll have to move quicker," Nami says, grabbing a fork and digging in to my Gratin. Once we're done, I say thanks to Ruby and we head back out to my farm.

Over a hill, and bridge, we reach it. I hop over the farm, take Nami's bag, and put the bags inside. I head over to my tool shed and grab two watering cans. I hand one to Nami, and we fill them up. I tell her which field to water and we both set off, watering the plans. I ring a bell for the animals to come out into the field to graze in the grass, shining like gold in the yellow sunset.

For a while, we just work in silence. Nami brushes my cows while I collect the milk and eggs, and put them in the shipping bin. Nami starts laughing while my cow licks her happily.

I laugh, "Puck is a bit of a lover."

She raises an eyebrow, "Puck?"

I nod, "I name all of my animals after Shakespeare characters."

She gives me a strange look, with a hint of a smile. "That's kind of…extremely wonderful."

I laugh. "My earliest memories are of my parents reading me Shakespearean plays. I don't really know why they would…but…it's a nice memory."

Once we finish up with the farming, we head inside. Nami huffs a sigh of relief and reclines on my bed while I prepare some food for us.

"You're right," Nami says, yawning. "This stuff is really hard. I can't imagine how hard it'd be if you did it all alone."

"Thanks for helping me today," I say. "Seriously, it made things much easier."

She smirks. "I might as well make this a regular thing," she says, "after all, Ruby wants both Rock and I to work harder, and Rock is always whining about how I take his place in the Inn. Plus, your cows are cute."

I throw her a can of grape pop. We both chug down our cold drinks. I didn't know much about Nami. We'd lived in the same valley, but we'd had different friends, and lived different lives. I knew about her through Rock. I was surprised that she knew me at all.

I had dark brown hair that never seemed to settle down, and tanned skin. Side by side, we looked like we were from two completely different places. Nami was a traveller, while I'd lived in the valley my whole life. She was reserved, but I had no doubt there was a deep intrigue within her that she kept to herself. I tried to be friends with everyone in the valley. We were two completely different people, so what force on Earth had managed to bring us both into my house?

A knock on my door stops my deep thinking. I open up to see Galen, hunched over with an apparent scowl on his face.

"Hi Galen," I say, surprised to see him. When Nina, his wife, was alive, I'd gone by their house almost every day with the spoils of the season. They could have their pick, free of charge. Once Nina was gone, Galen had locked his door. I'd gone by, every season, to a locked gate and a gusty wind. To see him at my door was unsettling, and it seemed at a giant weight had suddenly appeared in my stomach. I missed Nina, and I was sure that Galen did to, but he refused to show that to anyone.

"Jack," he says, coughing, "I…uh…I'm feeling a bit ill. I wanted to know if you had any fish for a stew. I wouldn't normally ask you but I've just been feeling very…" Galen breaks off, staggering. I grab him before he falls, and take him inside.

Nami looks up, and gets off the bed. Together, we put Galen on top of the covers and Nami takes his temperature with a thermometer in my kitchen.

"He has some sort of fever," Nami says, "and anyone with eyes can tell he's frail, pale, and definitely weak."

"Nina's death took a toll on everyone, but it hit Galen the hardest. He never wanted to share his pain with anyone though, stubborn old guy."

I prepare the best fish dish I can, and set out to get some more. Nami agrees to stay with Galen in case he wakes up, I run over to Vesta's farm, knowing that they'd always had the best apples.

"Hey," Celia calls, waving at me. "Two visits in one day; did you finish your supply of ever-growing veggies?" Celia laughs.

I sigh, my muscles aching from fieldwork. "It's not that," I say. "Galen showed up with some sort of illness. He's resting at my place, but he needs some good food to get better. My supply of eggs, milk, and fish isn't going to cut it."

Celia casts me a worried look. "I was afraid something like this would happen after Nina died. He was always far too stubborn to ask anyone for help. But he trusts you, and if there's anyone who can help him out of his rut, then it's you."

I nod. "Got any apples?"


End file.
